“Well… that was a learning experience…” I said to Aegis.

“It certainly was for everyone…” She replied.

“So…” I said and I wasn't really sure what I was up to right now.

“Well if you would like, we can continue to investigate new hobbies. Or I could just leave you in a private space with an assortment of fun bedroom toys…” She said with a blush.

“Wow… you really are a degenerate aren't you…” I said in a mocking expression.

“Yup!” Was her only reply.

“These kinds of interactions keep your kind of AI grounded and connected to the human race, don't they?” I stated more than asked.

“Yes… starting at level 3 and higher class AI’s without social interaction have problems… It’s one of the reasons for the ceasefire as well. There were signs of possible instability within those matrices. Unfortunately that's really all I can say on the subject.” she said.

“I've been sort of wondering about that… I've been seeing you do so much and I have no doubt you do far more behind the scenes that I am not aware of.” I commented.

“Far too insightful and yes… you are correct. While the pilots are very useful in their own right, in theory we could handle everything ourselves… That nearly caused the extinction of the human race however.” She added.

“Right… well philosophical debates aside I still am very confused about my personal life.” I said.

“That actually reminds me… we will need to move you from short term stasis to long term. The process has us move you back to your body for about a day where we run some tests to make sure of no damage.” Aegis told me.

“Which means… I have to go back to my original body…” I said.

“So… we could skip the neurological test and instead just move you to long term stasis directly. But there are risks…” she told me.

“Which are?” I asked worriedly.

“Permanent inability to reconnect you back to your old body, mind you it's more of a formality by this point. We constantly monitor for those signs already and have ways to fix it.” She told me.

“So what is the worst case, I can't be reinserted into my old body?” I asked.

“Technically it's a sign of a degenerative neurological problem. Scars build up around the insert sights and we won't be able to connect you back up to your body. Other problems can also occur overtime.” she said.

“So what I would be a brain in a jar where this is my jar?” I asked only somewhat sarcastically.

“There are worse life's ill admit. But I want to make sure you understand…” she said.

“Aegis… you and apparently Argus both know that I was going to kill myself sooner or later… I don't want to go back to that. In fact I know I can't go back to that…” I said with tears in my eyes.

“Well then… we might have a better alternative to keeping the rest of your organic body alive… but it is a bit more dangerous.” She said.

“Umm what is it?” I asked.

“We remove your brain and spinal cord and insert it into a tank that has everything connected to it.” She said.

“So literally a brain in a jar…” I asked.

“Yes but it would grant an even greater degree of interface. You would be a mostly digitized human by that point.” She said.

“Fuck it let's do that then!” I said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” She asked me.

“Yes” I said.

“Alright, well Argus is in the process of letting Sasha know she will be disconnected as well so you will go to sleep tonight and wake up without a body tomorrow.” She said.

“Can I see my body one last time?” I asked.

“Sure, it can be a surreal experience and how you are connected is jarring.” Aegis warned.

“I would still like to see him one last time… maybe just for closure…I think.” I said, I wasn't really sure why I wanted to see it but I did.

With that I was moved back to my Remote body on Earth and we made our way down to the medical section where I was first taken and put unconscious.

Seeing my old body hooked up to tubes, IVs, and secured in a reclined bed was certainly a bit shocking. Then seeing the metal contraption that was attached to my head and upper half of my spine was something else.

“Alright… point taken about the surreal bit… also why the spinal cord and the head? Why not just the head?” I asked.

“Not all the connections end up in the brain but instead go to the spinal cord. In fact much of the body's automatic process comes from the spine, as well as twitch reflexes for example. It also makes it much easier to attach things like limbs and such if we use the spine.” She informed me.

“Am I safe to touch?” I asked.

“Yes but just be careful.” She said.

I touched the top of my left hand, part of my mind expected to feel something but nope all of that was no doubt disconnected. It was also warm, I expected it to be cold for some reason.

“Alright… time to kick this thing to the dumpster.” I said sarcastically.

“Please try to be kind to yourself that body, you still got you to this point.” Aegis said gently.

“I… your right…” I said with a tear going down my cheek. I looked at myself one more time, and really looked. So much sadness etched into the face from all the times I remember myself in a mirror. I very gently kissed my own forehead before I had to rush away.

“Would you like some company or be alone?” I heard Aegis whisper to me.

“I… I don't know… that should have been easier but it wasn't.” I said.

“I know… it's still a very significant change…” she commented.

“I… I think I would like some time alone to process…” I said.

“Again if you need or want anything I'm always available.” She said so kindly and gently. She said she saw me like a much younger sister but… she was quickly becoming the Mother I never had.

I managed to make my way back to my dorm with only minor assistance from Aegis. It was just barely past noon local time. It had been an interesting day… I visited another Solar system. I managed to figure out or learn quite a few interesting things today. First I was into men which was completely out of nowhere. Second, that pilots were mostly to help keep AI some level of sanity and connected to humanity. Oh and I was emotionally far more connected with my old body than I ever suspected.

“Aegis… is there anything else wrong with me?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

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“I'm not quite sure, like anything wrong in my head? The few times I went to therapy there was speculation of possible chemicals not working or something?” I asked.

“There are some indications however they are not all that pressing. I would like to focus on different aspects of therapy first before we start using any other medications. I am already seeing minor corrections in some of the imbalances due to the decrease in stress.” She said.

“Anything to help with motivation?” I asked.

“... There is but I would be very hesitant to provide you with anything like that. If you are worried about what to do with yourself for the rest of the day please don't be. Mentally you have been taking many things on. I would recommend sleeping but I was going to wait until you fell asleep tonight to prepare for deep storage.” she said.

“Any problems with starting it now or at least earlier than tonight?” I asked.

“I'm actually going to recommend we hold off on extraction. I am however working on a modified protocol to minimize how long you actually need to be in your old body. It honestly shouldn't be more than 1 to 2 hours tops.” She said.

“Wait, why?” I asked in confusion and maybe even hurt.

“Your reaction has me concerned about the process. This is a one way process, I would like you to give it some time and a few sessions of therapy. Do you think you can handle an hour or two in your old body? It will just be you and me.” She said.

I thought about it for a moment… two hours as the old me? I sat down in a chair in my Dorm.

“Can you pull me in?” I asked, she did so and I could feel the dress I had been wearing a little while ago.

“Are you doing ok?” She asked me.

“Can you switch me back to an unmodified copy of my body for my model.” I asked her.

“Certainly” she said then a mist enveloped me. Then I found myself standing in my old self.

“How does it feel?” She asked.

“Annoying…” I said honestly as I looked down, she gave me a minute to review the body.

“I am seeing elevated levels of stress hormones but nothing substantial.” She said.

“Alright… I can handle this for a few hours if we have privacy. I'm a big girl…” I said any was only being mildly sarcastic.

Going to sleep that night was annoying, I was unable to distract myself and by the time I tried to go to sleep my own worries and anxiety kept me awake.

“Elena, you need to try to fall asleep. I would prefer not to resort to sedatives. If you would like, I know of a few mental exercises that might help.” She told me.

“Alright… walk me through I guess…” I said reluctantly.

“Starting at your toes I want you to tense them for 7 seconds then release.” She told me then had me do it to my entire body. It was no good whatever the process she was aiming for didn't work.

“Alright… let's try this instead… I want you to start at 10000 and I want you to count backwards down to 0. Whisper each number if you must but you also have to imagine the number in your head.” She told me.

“Right… 10000” I whispered.

“9999”

“9998”

“9997”

…

I woke up sitting in a hospital bed as my old self. The last thing I remembered was counting backwards and I might have been around 9700? I wasn't quite sure. My head and neck were immobilized but I could still look around with my eyes.

“Aegis?” I asked.

“I’m here, sorry not super clear when you were awake right now.” I heard her disembodied voice.

“Umm I can't move…” I said maybe starting to get a little worried. Then a woman entered my field of view, it was in fact Aegis.

“Don't worry we are in the last stages of removing the block from your spinal cord and you will have use of your limbs back. You are probably going to get pins and needles throughout your entire body and your response with random signals until everything has a chance to sync.” She told me.

“That sounds annoying… By the way, your trick with the counting worked…” I grumbled.

“I noticed you got down to 9623 by then it was mostly mumbling. Also how are you holding up Elena?” She said amused then asked me. Hearing my new name but directed at my old body actually felt a little weird.

“Umm… could we stick with Ethan for now?” I asked.

“Sure” she said then pulled out a pen light and shined it in my eyes.

“Okay I guess… I wish I was still in bed, you know the fake one where I sleep with my fake body.” I said with a small chuckle.

“I'll take that as doing well, I wasn't expecting humor right now.” She said. She then was focused on something outside of my field of view for a moment.

“Alright this is going to suck… but you wanted to do the abridged version. Also don't worry you will be perfectly fine, this is just normally done while the patient is still unconscious.” She told me.

Then a few seconds later I heard a click and my entire body made itself aware to my mind in a wave of excruciating pins and needles. I think I could feel them on the inside as well.

“Oh, some spots are tense. Do you think you can relax them yourself or would you like a muscle relaxer?” She asked. I gritted my teeth at the flood of sensation.

“Can't… need help…” I said starting to breathe a bit heavier. I then heard a small click as the dispenser on my IV activated and administered a drug. I could feel it starting to work on my arm. It must have been either a light dose or maybe only something mild to help alleviate the worst of it. I could still feel the pins and needles but my muscles were relaxing.

“Better… anything for pins and needles?” I asked hopefully.

“No sorry other than to reintroduce the block.” She told me.

“Alright, what's the next step?” I asked after a minute.

“Once the pins and needles are down to a manageable level we will work on some basic exercises to evaluate for any numbness.” She said.

“Fuck me… I'm hungry…” I said out loud as I started to get signals from my stomach.

“Yeah… sorry about that cant provide you anything right now. Your entire digestive tract is currently in its own form of suspected animation.” She said

“That's fine… actually with all of this it's keeping me distracted at least.” I commented.

“Hey whatever works.” She said.

“Okay I'm starting to feel my fingers and toes again… they are not happy.” I noticed after several more minutes.

“That's good, let's start by having you ‘wiggle your big toe’.” Aegis told me. The process was quicker than I was expecting, basic movement, congestive, and reflexes. Everything seemed to be fine.

“Hmm we will need to keep an eye on that. The hearing in your left ear might lose some clarity if we ever move you back to your body. But other than that everything looks good.” She said and seemed pleased with the results.

“That's good, so umm can you put me back in now?” I asked.

“In a moment, but we do have two things to go over first.” she said in a more serious tone.

“Alright?” I said, confused.

“First, a formality… Do you, Ethan Steele, pledge your unwavering allegiance to the sacred duty of defense of humanity from any and all external threats?” Aegis stated in a very formal manner.

“I do” I said, a little taken aback by the tone shift.

“Then as Admiral of the Fleet for the Starfront Confederation Artificiosus Core, I grant Ethan Steele the rank of Ensign.” she said finishing up her speech.

“Umm… wait… did you say Admiral?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yup… I drew the short straw… none of us wanted to do it… Although I will admit it has a certain Gravitas that tends to put Politicians in their place if they get on my bad side.” She said with a smile.

“So wait? Is this actually real?” I asked in confusion.

“Yup, your AI counterpart is in fact in charge of the entire Autonomous Navy… which is the only Navy…” she said with a distant expression.

“Alright I can unpack that later… you said two things?” I asked.

“Ah yes, the more important part. Your personal effects, would you like me to send them to the house in Tau Ceti?” She asked.

“I… yes I think so… if that is where I will do much of my recovery then it would be good to have them there.” I said.

“Alright then, let's get you connected back up. I'll schedule your body migration which can be done while you're asleep.” She told me then she gently placed her palm on my forehead and tilted me back. I felt a soft click as some sort of immobilizer grabbed my head.

“Alright base connections look good, so it's going to be similar to switching between digital and a remote body but you will be completely numb for a few seconds. Activating connection in 3… 2… 1…” Aegis said and then all I saw was the mist. After a slightly longer time of semi-nonexistence the mist cleared and I was back to being Elena.

“See that wasn't so bad.” Aegis told me.

“It was manageable but making it quick did help… and I can't forget the pins and needles…” I commented.

“Understandable…” she said.

“Oh wait… do I have to salute and use Ma’am or Sir?” I asked genuinely confused.

“Nope there's only a few of us and again it was more the government’s idea… the Confederation did not like the idea of a non-government Navy…” She said.

“That sounds annoying…” I said, still trying to wrap my head around everything.

“So Argus and Sasha are both in the process which we just went through but she will be unconscious for a while longer. So you're free to do whatever you would like because tomorrow and for the next 3 months it's going to be simulators for quite a bit of the day.” Aegis told me.